Sigma Burn,a Hero Fallen, a Hero Risen
by Link-on
Summary: John Norman was a simple man, but he wanted something special. One day he saw someone being mugged and he couldnt do anything about it which made him infuriated him. So he set out to find super powers, so he seeked, so he found.
1. Great Beginning

**Chapter 1:**

John Norman had just woken up, and was headed to eat some breakfast. He always liked the Para O's cereal. It was named after the city he lived in, Paragon City. Paragon City was a city filled with villains who no one could stand up against, but there was a scarce few that kept them under control. Paragon city was in turmoil at the time. John always wanted to protect the city and fight villains, to fight as a patriot, for his city. He had a horrible job in Kings Row in a factory filled with poor citizens who could only afford food for their families and nothing else. Here starts the story of John Norman or as he will soon be known as Sigma Burn.

"Hey Jimmy!" shouted John as he checked his card into the time box.

Jimmy was one of John's few friends.

"How's it going dude? Are you feeling alright today?" Jimmy recalled as John walked toward him.

"Yeah I am ok. I just wish this city was a peaceful place. You know, today on my way to work I saw a man being mugged. I couldn't do anything, and I felt so useless, like I have no purpose in this world." John said sullenly.

"Aw don't fret dude. You'll find some way to help out this doomed city. Maybe even one day you could save it. You know as one of those heroic dudes."

"I hope so."

John went to his office and sat at his computer. John wasn't the CEO of the company, but he was high up there. At least he didn't have to work in the assembly line making the cars. That was good enough for him. He hated handy work. He preferred a quiet, small, cozy office.

After work John liked to go to Perez Park and stroll around enjoying the natural environment. A couple of birds shot out of the trees and flew away into the sky and after them were screams from in the woods. He remembered earlier that day when the man was being mugged, and it was then that he pulled up the confidence to go into the woods and see what was happening. A man was being beaten up by a couple of hellions.

"Hey! You guys! What do you think your doing?" John shouted almost doubtful of what he had just attempted to do. After all the hellions were a magical group that had to do with fire.

The two hellions threw the other man down and approached John.

"Who do you think you are punk? Telling us what to do! Were the hellions! You never tell us what to do!" One of the thugs moved closer to John and this was the one talking.

"You know what happens to people like that don't you? They end up dead in a dumpster, left for the Vahzilok to come and take their remains."

"Yeah wel….well…." John tried to control his fear of these two men who were beginning to pull their knives out.

"Well. I have…powers! Super powers and if you come any closer ill use them on you!" John picked the right two guys because they weren't high up in the gang and couldn't use fire. They hesitated.

"Yeah right man. You look like a hapless citizen! Don't lie to us!"

John held out his hand with his fingers pointed toward the sky and his palm vertical. Almost like if he were to shoot fire out of his hand at any moment. The hellions didn't believe one bit of it and ran toward him with their knives pointed towards his stomach.

"All right you asked for it!" John shouted although nothing was coming. He just had to hope for a miracle that he wasn't killed there and now.

Suddenly a burst of fire shot out, though it wasn't from John it was from a hero patrolling Perez. It struck the hellions with such force that they were flung back into the trees. They were unconscious.

"Wow! That was amazing!" John cheered the hero on. By now the man the hellions were beating on when John found them was a mile away.

"What are you doing here? Don't you know this is a danger zone for citizens?" The hero said sternly.

"Since when has Perez become a danger zone? I came here a week ago and everything was fine. What happened?"

"Well two days ago sludge started filling the lake. It became human like and multiplied. Now there are hundreds roaming around here, and just recently hellions moved in and so have the skulls. There are gang wars all over the place. You're lucky you haven't been caught up in one! Now please come with me so I may escort you out of this place."

John was picked up by the hero and was flown to his apartment building in Kings Row. Today was hectic and he just wanted some rest to take it all in. So he got ready for bed watched some television, which he often liked to do before bed, and fell asleep dreading the next day as a simple blip on the radar screen.


	2. Power Hungry

**Chapter 2**

Today was the weekend for John. He loved the weekend it was a time where he could stay home away from the dangerous thugs outside. But today was different. He had to know how to get powers. He craved them. But he didn't know that heroes don't use their powers for fun they put them towards saving others. Last night when John was saved by the hero he had never seen one before. After seeing this sight he wanted powers so badly.

He walked out of his apartment and turned onto the side walk towards the tram. He wanted to go to Atlas Park, which was a famous place because it was where brand new heroes started their careers. It was pretty well protected despite the fact that there weren't many heroes in Paragon City.

After getting off the tram, he ventured the streets searching for a hero. At last he found one after walking around for half an hour. He approached him.

"Excuse me. But I was wondering just how is that you got your powers?" John asked. But it was like talking to a wall. The hero didn't even take a look at John as he blasted away at some random thugs.

"Ok then." John said sadly.

It was beginning to seem that coming to Atlas Park wasn't such a good idea as he had planned, when all of a sudden a hero flew out of no where and landed right in front of John.

"Why hello there citizen!" This was odd to John because he had never been approached by a hero. "I couldn't help noticing that you looked lost. Could I help you get back to where ever you live?"

"Sure. But before we go could I ask you a question?"

"Shoot for it!" the hero smiled.

"Well you see I was wondering where you got your powers from. I want to be a hero myself but I don't know how to acquire super powers."

"Well it looks like you in luck. You see it just so happens that I know how to get you powers."

"Really? No way! Could you please show me? Please?" John was so caught up in his lust for super powers that he hadn't noticed that this hero was acting a little suspicious. It was almost like he had planned to meet John or something.

The hero picked him up and flew him over to a lab. It was then that John noticed he had made a big mistake. This man wasn't a hero, he was a villain. It also just so happened that he was in the Crey, an organization that hated heroic business, but at the same time tried to create super powered beings like heroes.

"What?! I thought you said you were a hero!" John yelled.

"Oh really? I said no such thing. All I said was that I knew how to get you powers, and it just so happens that your one of our new subjects that we can experiment on!"

The Crey agent that approached John earlier flew down and landed in front of the building. John noticed it was a Crey laboratory. The agent flashed a card to the security guards and walked in. The air in here was cool, but then again it gave a chilled feeling. John was brought into a small room.

"Sit here, and don't you try to escape! You'll never make it out alive if you do." The agent left.

John sat there thinking about what he had just gone through. This was just the sort of thing he wanted to avoid on his weekends, but today he decided to be an idiot and take a stroll through a sector of the city he had never even been in before. Ten minutes passed which seemed to be an hour to John when a man walked into the room. He was average sized, slim, and in his mid-thirties.

"Hello son!" He seemed crazy to John. "Are you ready for your exam?"

"No! You just want to experiment on me. I just want to go home!"

"Oh I am so sorry. Allow me to explain. You see my agents can be a bit cold. I am sure he made it seem like you were to be used as some sort of lab rat. Well I can assure that is not the case!"

John didn't say anything as if gesturing the man to continue. But he didn't because he was waiting for John to speak. Finally the man spoke up again.

"Quiet boy aren't you. Well that isn't a problem. You see you are allowed to walk out of here if I authorize you. But I heard from my agent you wanted some powers eh? Something to make you feel needed in this city? Well I can give you that. But you must trust me to…well I don't like to say experiment but I will anyway! You must trust me to experiment on you so that you can have such abilities."

John considered this. After all isn't this what he had come to Atlas for? A chance to become someone? Finally John spoke.

"Alright. I trust you. But please try not to kill me alright?"

The man ignored John's plea and spoke with delight.

"Splendid! We will get to work right away!"

John was afraid, but he had to be strong. He was getting his powers. It's what he wanted right? He was beginning to understand that the deal he had just made might have been a bad one. But he was soon to find out that it wasn't so terrible after all.


	3. Unveiled

**Chapter 3**

John knew he was in for it when he was brought into the main lab where they conducted the experiments on their "guinea pigs".

"Now John, can I call you John? I'll do it anyway. Now John, remember you can back out right now, but only now. Beyond this point there is no going back, for if you do terrible things could happen. Terrible!" The man said who had greeted John in the room he was kept in earlier.

"Uh yeah ok…I'll try to keep that in mind." John wasn't as thrilled as he thought he would be when he discovered the secret to powers.

"Ok then John your stuck with us from here on out. Initiate the operation!" John was put inside of a sort of chamber. It was almost like a tube.

"Ready the mutation chamber!"

John had just found out how heroes got their powers or at least a great majority of them. He didn't like it at all and wanted out. He remembered what the man had said, but how could he be stuck if the operation hadn't started yet.

"Wait! I want to get out! Stop! Please!"

It was no use you couldn't hear him at all inside the chamber.

"Start!"

As soon as the man said it the chamber came to life and started humming loudly. Then two rings appeared around it on the outside and started spinning violently. The room started to shake but this was normal to the scientists inside. It happened every day. Meanwhile John was squirming inside trying to find a way to get out. There wasn't a point to it because there wasn't a way out.

"GUAHHH!!!!!" John gave out an injured yell. The machine had shaken and he smashed against the side which knocked him out. This was at least some good because of the pain John would have gone through if he was awake.

Three hours later John awoke. It had ended two hours earlier but he was left asleep and he wondered why. He lifted himself up from the ground and he wondered how he had gotten put there too. When he stood up, though, he understood why. Everything was demolished. The building he was in was now a pile or wreckage and fires dancing all around him. He thought the reason was because the capsule exploded. John heard sirens in the distance and decided to run for it knowing he'd be blamed as a villain if they reached the building while he was still there.

John reached his apartment an hour later. He wondered if what he went through before he passed out had even done anything. He certainly didn't feel any different. He walked into his apartment and took a long shower. After the shower he decided to eat something before his nightly television watching and then bed. While his food was cooking he heard a bird on his window. He went over to look at it when it suddenly flew away and he looked down then saw the fate of his building. The hellions he encountered the day before had followed the hero and John to his complex. While John's adventure today was happening they were devising a plan to get John back for what he did to them. Now, they were setting fire to his apartment building.

John was afraid, but then he remembered what had happened today at the lab. He was doubtful that it did anything but it was his only choice to save his home. He turned off the food he was cooking and went outside hoping that the powers he was promised actually were part of him now. He went out his door and started down the steps leading to the ground floor.

"Hey! You four! What do you think you're doing you little creeps?" John shouted at the hellions. He felt like an idiot but he had seen a show with a heroic theme to it. The main hero said it and he though it fit well in this situation.

"What the hell did you just say?!! We're hellions! You don't tell us what to do!"

"Oh really? Come here and see if you can prove that!" John shouted almost doubtfully. Luckily the hellions were so angry they didn't hear the fear in his voice, if you call that luck.

"You know what I think we will! All of us!"

John considered the decision he made to come out here and tell them off. It was bad, very bad. The only thing he had to lean on was the hope that he had powers from the experiment. The hellions were closing in on John from all sides and he was running out of time to think. So, John just moved into a threatening pose and hoped for the best. Suddenly fire shot out of John's hand in the form of a sword. He was afraid it was going to burn him but he soon found that it didn't hurt him at all. So the experiment worked after all. John gripped the sword and swung it hard into one of the hellions. He collapsed and fell to the ground. The other three hellions backed off.

"Oh no he really does have powers!" One said then ran off. The other two followed him scared out of their wits.

"I…I just….won. I won. I won! Yes! Yes! I finally have super powers!" John shouted with glee into the night.

John decided that he could test his powers in the morning. Right now he was tired and needed to rest. So with a sigh of relief he walked up the steps to his room and finished the meal he was cooking. Then he went off to sleep.


End file.
